THE LIGHTHOUSE OF Santa Maria di Leuca Apulia - Oggi: 07/01/2009

To some meters of the spacious place of the Sanctuary, the tourist's eyes cannot avoid the majesty and the size of the lighthouse of first class projected by the engineer Achille Rossi and built in 1864 instead an anti-corsair tower wanted by Philippe II on "Punta Meliso ". It was activated for the first time on 6 September 1866. The lighthouse which is 47 m high from soil level and 102 m from sea level, offers the possibility, going up a spiral staircase of 254 steps, to reach the circular terrace. It often arrives that during limpid days we can see Corfu and the Acrocerauni Mountains.

Lamp, with its diameter of 3m, which rests on an octagonal tower and on a building of 2 floors, is provided with 16 lenses, 6 free and 10 dark, which send out white and red light beams of 50 km which mark the dangerous shoal of the sea of Ugento. Since 1940 the radio beacon also provided an international service by radiating a signal every 4 hours with a clear atmosphere and every 4 minutes with the fog. Inside the building there are 4 rooms of which 3 are used by lighthouse keepers and one is used as inspection, engine and radio beacon room. There are also 3 other buildings which have different functions.

In the end, there is a perceptive feature, not technical: the beautiful and rare view that you can appreciate from the terrace. From here the sea, warmed by the rays of the sun, becomes multi-coloured and, this beautiful and endless view allows the spectator, only with the mind, to travel in the infinite space.